The European Figure Skating Championships begin in Kaunus, Lithuania, on Wednesday (January 10, 2024). The pair skaters Minerva Hase and Nikita Volodin are hot candidates for the title. Sportschau.de broadcasts all decisions live.
The German figure skaters are going into the 115th edition with full energy, especially the new German duo Minerva Hase and Nikita Volodin. The native Russian from St. Petersburg and the Berliner are running their first international season together and have so far promptly won all important competitions – including the Grand Prix final of the world’s best pairs at the beginning of December.
The two 24-year-olds start as title favorites in Lithuania. They will have to prove whether they are already a “dream couple” not only at these European Championships, but above all in the next few years up to the 2026 Olympic Games in Milan-Cortina.
Potential for a “dream couple”
In this country, superlatives are readily used when athletes are successful. Without a doubt, Hase/Volodin have the potential to be a “dream couple”, but that requires more than two Grand Prix victories and gold in the final.
The technical elements have already developed very well after this short time of training together, but especially in pair skating it takes time to perfect the almost acrobatic figures. In the absolute symbolic element of pair skaters, the so-called triple twist, Minerva fails to find the required take-off in order to be awarded the highest of four difficulty levels.
On the ice together since spring 2023
But figure skating and especially pair skating is more than just a technical element. After this short time, the couple’s harmony is already extremely good with Hase/Volodin, but the choreographic self-image still has to grow and mature in order to become what Aljona Savchenko and Bruno Massot recently achieved with their unforgettable freestyle at their Olympic victory in 2018.
“Minerva’s trainer Dimitri Savin called me in 2022 and told me that we would be a good fit together. When we met for the five-day trial training in Berlin, we knew immediately that it was a good fit.”, Volodin looks back. After the native of St. Petersburg still had contractual obligations to complete in his home country, continuous training in Berlin only began in spring 2023.
Rabbit had sleepless nights
Before that there was a time of doubt behind Minerva Fabienne Hase: “There were so many question marks before our partnership and there were quite a few who said whether I was sure about putting myself through this stress. He is Russian and when we decided to run together there was already a war in Ukraine “says Rabbit. It was difficult with entry, permits and residence permits. “It cost a lot of nerves. I also had moments when I thought it wasn’t worth it. But looking at the last few months, I have to say that the sleepless nights have paid off.”says the pair skater.
Minerva Hase and Nikita Volodin
Russians excluded from the European Championships
Normally, the top Russian pairs dominate the pair skating discipline at the European Championships. This year they will be missing. The International Ice Skating Union (ISU) did not allow Russian figure skaters because of the war of aggression against Ukraine.
Therefore, the door is wide open for Minverva Hase and Nikita Volodin 13 years after Aljona Savchenko and Robin Szolkowy’s last European championship title on Thursday. There could be gold for Germany again for the first time. Even with Russian participation, the two would be completely competitive.
However, the duo pushes their role as favorites aside. “There are still a lot of good candidates next to us. The Georgians and also the Italians didn’t sleep in the preparation, it’s a really hard-fought podium, so we’re trying to stay relaxed and not worry too much. On the other hand “It’s really nice to be considered a favorite,” said Minerva Hase to Sportschau.de and continued: “You can already tell that interest in us has increased. We are currently giving two or three interviews a week. This is especially great because it also makes our sport more interesting.”
Association does not build up pressure
The German Ice Skating Union can hope for its greatest success in more than a decade, but does not want to increase the pressure of expectations any further: “I know that the two of them have reached a very high level in a very short time, but if things don’t continue like this, then you have to understand that too.”said DEU President Andreas Wagner, who himself will be there in Lithuania.
With a bit of luck, there could even be two medals in pair skating, because the European Championship bronze medalists from last season, Annika Hocke and Robert Kunkel, definitely have a chance, but after Kunkel’s persistent back problems, they are not thinking about a top placement. “We have put any goal aside and are happy that we can run pain-free under full load. We don’t have the idea of a medal or top score“, says Kunkel.
Isaev before the European Championship premiere
In the individual disciplines, the new German champion Kristina Isaev is fighting for a place in the freestyle final of the best 24 women in Europe in her first start at a European Championship. Nikita Starostin from Dortmund has to prove that second place at the German championships was just a “slip”, and without a quadruple jump there is no way to get a top ten placement among the men anyway.
The ice dancers Jennifer Janse van Rensburg and Benjamin Steffan from Oberstdorf want to show again this year that they are among the best ten in Europe. “We worked a lot on our rhythm dance, but especially with our tango freestyle we got a great program and a lot of positive feedback”said Steffan, who hopes that the performance will be enough for a place in the top ten.
Jennifer Janse van Rensburg and Benjamin Steffan in action
All eyes on the pair skating
But: The Germans’ flagship discipline is pair skating and all hopes there rest on Minverva Hase and Nikita Volodin. They will have to prove in the next few days in Lithuania whether they are ready to take the next step to becoming the “dream couple”.
The title fights were originally supposed to take place in Hungary’s capital Budapest, but the organizer canceled the event at the beginning of May 2023 out of concern about rising energy costs in the wake of the war in Ukraine.